Set Up a Living Trust through LA Probate Law

Set Up a Living Trust through LA Probate Law

An excellent tool to have to ensure the control of your assets while you are alive – and when you pass on – is a living Will. This legal tool enables you to enjoy your assets while you are alive, and it will ensure their protection and future control after you are gone. With a living trust, you are allowed to keep your possessions and enjoy them for as long as needed, and then they are passed into your trust after you die. This can be an excellent way to meet your needs and also to be sure that your assets will go where you want them to after you die. Scott Schomer at LA Probate Law is ready to help you create your living trust and be sure that it is worded properly so that there are no legal complications later – which you want to avoid. You also should seek legal counsel to ensure that you fully understand what a living trust is able to do for you and what it cannot do.

Advantages of a Living Trust

There are several advantages that you can get from having a living trust. For one thing, you are allowed to control the assets in the trust while you are alive, and you can control what will be done with them after the trust is created. You appoint the trustee, and you determine who is going to receive what items. You should be aware, though, that a living trust does not offer any kind of protection until items are actually placed in the trust. This has to be through a legal document, and it has no real value until this occurs. Another tremendous advantage is that the assets in the trust do not have to go through probate to be distributed to your loved ones. The estate planners at LA Probate Law can help you with the details of creating a living trust, and may be able to provide further advice to help you reach your goals for the transfer of your goods to your heirs. On the negative side, a Living Trust has its limits. Because you still have control over the assets that are in the trust, you will not be able to use this form of trust to protect your assets from taxes. So, while it is convenient, if you want to give more of your assets to your heirs, another form of trust will have to be used.

Two Different Forms of Living Trusts

A living trust comes in two different forms – a revocable living trust and an irrevocable living trust. When you create a revocable living trust, you retain control over all the assets, even after they are put into the trust. The control over those assets really becomes no different concerning those things than before you create the trust, since you actually serve as the trustee until power is given to a new trustee that you appoint. You even have power to change the assets contained in it since you are the one who made it, and you can name or change the name of any future or co-trustees while you are alive. The assets remain under the trust creator’s (the grantor) control until they are actually put under the control of another trustee. The trust itself can even be revoked if you want. LA Probate Law can help you set up a living trust when you are ready. The principle advantage of a living trust is that your assets are placed under the immediate control of the directives of the trust when you die and those assets cannot be used for other purposes. In addition, if you should ever become unable to make decisions for yourself, the appointed trustee will take over and begin to make decisions about the property under the trust based on your directives for them.

The other form of living trust is called an irrevocable living trust. This type of trust is just like its name sounds – irrevocable. This means that it cannot be changed by the creator of the trust, or by anyone else for that matter. They are often used to put assets out of the reach of taxes. The fact that it cannot be altered once it is created and assets put into it are no longer under his or her control certainly means that you would need the advice of a qualified estate planner, such as those at LA Probate Law. Considerable thought about the possibilities of what could happen needs to be given to ensure that circumstances are not going to change, or that it will provide for contingencies if they do.

Other Documents You Probably Need

After you create a living will, it is important that you add a couple more documents. This will help you to have a balanced estate plan in place that can thoroughly take care of possible problems. You also need to have a Will, which allows you to cover anything not directly covered by the living trust. You also need to have a durable power of attorney which enables an appointed individual to manage your assets that are not covered under the trust, as well as pay your bills. Another document you need is called an advance health care directive, also called a durable power of attorney for health care. This document allows that appointed person to make health care decisions for you if you should become unable to make them for yourself. It includes decisions about whether or not you are to be put on life-sustaining machines, be an organ donor, and other issues, as well as funeral arrangements. LA Probate Law is ready to help you to create your living trust and other beneficial documents.

Set Up a Living Trust through LA Probate Law

A graduate of Boston University School of Law, Scott P. Schomer is a frequent lecturer on estate planning and elder law issues, having discussed these important issues on local and national television. A seasoned courtroom advocate, Scott has obtained combined judgments and verdicts in excess of twenty-five million dollars for his clients. Scott has served as a member of the Los Angeles Superior Court Probate Volunteer Panel (PVP Attorney), Probate Settlement Panel and a Judge Pro Tempore. Scott's expertise has been recognized by his peers with such accolades as a life-time membership in the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, the Five Star Wealth Manager designation, and repeated nominations as California Super Lawyer.

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Testimonials

“Mr. Schomer was excellent in getting our family trust and estate affairs in order. My husband and I had put off doing this and Scott really made the process easy! He is very passionate in making sure his clients get all that they need and we really appreciated it. I would highly recommend him and look forward to the many years he will be available to assist our family.”